The Catalan regional government – la Generalitat – has come to Spanair‘s rescue last week with a 10.5 million euro loan to cover a share increase in the airline.

“Or the government stepped in now, or Spanair was going to fall,” said Francesc Homs, the Generalitat’s spokesperson, describing the loan as an “emergency credit“.

According to Homs the only way the government could save the airline from imminent collapse was to extend this emergency credit and give Spanair some “financial stability” at least.

The president of Spanair, Ferran Soriano, has been angered by Homs’ comments, maintaining that the credit was part of a programme of share capital increases that had been deliberate “since the summer“.